Tag Archives: Great Lakes X-men

Great Lakes Avengers Brings Earth’s Not So Mightiest Heroes to Marvel NOW!

The Great Lakes Avengers have always been one of my most favorite Marvel teams. They are a group of lower level super heroes that are doing their honest best at playing in the big leagues. They were given guidance by Hawkeye and Mockingbird early in their formation. They even had Deadpool on their team for a short time. One of their members, Squirrel Girl, has single-handedly beaten most of the big villains in the Marvel Universe.

Origins of the team

Craig Hollis discovers that he is immortal and he decides to fight crime as Mr. Immortal. After being shot by a group of thieves and left for dead he realizes that operating alone may not be feasible. He places an advertisement for costumed adventurers in the local paper and assembles the Great Lakes Avengers.

He is successful in recruiting Dinah Soar, Big Bertha, Flatman and Doorman. Mr. Immortal refuses one candidate, Gene Lorrene, a leather fetishist calling himself Leather Boy. Gene was turned down because he has no superpowers and is therefore ineligible. He takes the rejection personally.

The team is first seen in public by Avengers Hawkeye and Mockingbird. They watch the group as they foil a robbery attempt. Although annoyed by the team’s naivete and their use of the Avengers name without permission, Hawkeye and Mockingbird agree to act as the team’s mentors. The Great Lakes Avengers assist the Avengers and West Coast Avengers from time to time.

They once help them fight Terminus. After aiding the Thunderbolts against the villain Graviton, the GLA clash with the mercenary Deadpool.

After a period of inactivity the team learns that the West Coast Avengers have been disbanded and that Hawkeye has been killed. The team subsequently battle Maelstrom, who is building a doomsday device. During this encounter Dinah Soar is killed. New members Squirrel Girl (who has a pet squirrel Monkey Joe) and Grasshopper are then recruited. Maelstrom is defeated via Mr. Immortal’s trickery.

Doorman, Grasshopper and Monkey Joe are all killed in the process (the last of these murdered by Gene Lorrene, who sought revenge against the GLA).

Mr. Immortal is also killed several times though he always recovers. Doorman is revived soon after his death and learns that he is connected to the Darkforce Dimension. Mr. Immortal learns that as an immortal he is considered Homo sapiens supreme. Despite defeating Maelstrom and saving the universe, the Great Lakes Avengers’ victory goes unnoticed.

After receiving a subpoena from the Avengers and discovering that they are all mutants, the team decides to rename themselves the Great Lakes X-Men.

Squirrel Girl acquires a new partner, a female squirrel called Tippy-Toe. Grasshopper II dies after misjudging his armor’s jumping capabilities. Doorman becomes an “angel of death” charged with conveying the souls of the dead to the afterlife. Marvel Girl demands that they drop the “X-Men” name. Flatman had just won a big poker championship and the team assumes the name Great Lakes Champions.

The teams history

With the beginning of the Civil War story line, the GLC decide to comply with the Superhuman Registration Act. The team is renamed as the Great Lakes Initiative, becoming officially sanctioned by the Fifty State Initiative as the team for the state of Wisconsin.

The team and Deadpool stop A.I.M. from using an “inebriation ray” that induces drunkenness in superheroes. Deadpool is granted reserve membership on the team. He is later forcibly evicted from GLI headquarters after proving to be too much of an annoyance.

The team also appears during the Secret Invasion story-line confronting a Skrull disguised as Grasshopper. When Norman Osborn assumes control of the Initiative he transfers Gravity to a leadership role in the GLI, much to the superhero’s dismay.

After a fight with Fin Fang Foom, Squirrel Girl elects to leave the team and return to New York. She feels that the other team members (who simply stayed in their headquarters playing cards during the fight) have come to rely upon her too much. She believes her continued presence will prevent them from reaching their full potential as heroes and as a team.

During the Fear Itself story-line the team had reverted to the name Great Lakes Avengers. They end up encountering Asbestos Man, who had been taking advantage of the fear and chaos that is happening. After standing around him for hours Mr. Immortal talks him into giving up in return for being remembered by the others.

The official solicitation

Because the Midwest needs Avenging too! Marvel is pleased to present your first look inside GREAT LAKES AVENGERS #1 – a brand-new series launching as part of Marvel NOW!.

Marvel newcomers Zac Gorman (Rick & Morty) and Will Robson (Star-Lord) look to put their stamp on the House of Ideas this October with a new series starring the world’s least favorite super team! But when the GLA gets reinstated as permanent members of the Avengers, it’s time for them to turn it all around and restore themselves to their former super hero glory. Their mission? Cleaning up the mean streets of Detroit! That’s right – Mr. Immortal, Flatman, Doorman, Big Bertha and newcomer Good Boy are leading the charge to make Detroit a better place. But can they answer the call? Or will the Motor City prove too much for the GLA?

Find out next month when GREAT LAKES AVENGERS #1 comes to comic shops on October 12th!

GREAT LAKES AVENGERS #1
Written by ZAC GORMAN
Art & Cover by WILL ROBSON
Variant Cover by MIKE ALLRED
Action Figure Variant by JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER
Champions Variant by DALE KEOWN
Hip-Hop Variant by DAMION SCOTT
Blank Variant Also Available